Category: Chicken

Baked Chicken Breast

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Super simple but so delicious and healthy.

You Need:

  • Chicken Breasts with or without the bone behind them.
  • A tablespoon of garlic paste.
  • Salt and pepper as per your preference.
  • Extra virgin olive oil. Must be adequate for liberally coating the chicken.
  • Parchment paper.
  • Both the flat and the grill tray for baking.

Rub the olive oil, garlic paste, pepper and salt on the chicken. Let it marinate for about twenty minutes.

Wrap the chicken in parchment paper. Use two sheets if you need. Make a small hole on top. Place this on the flat tray.

Bake in a preheated oven at 220C for twenty minutes.

Remove. Carefully open the parchment paper. Leave the paper on the flat tray. Keep the chicken on the grill tray. Keep the inner side facing up. Put both trays in the oven and bake for another fifteen minutes. Keeping the flat tray below the grill tray will prevent the juices that drip from ruining your oven. Leaving parchment paper on top of the flat tray makes clean up easy.

After the fifteen minutes, turn the chicken so the smooth side faces up. Use only top heat and grill for five minutes. Check for internal temperature of 75C at the thickest part using a meat thermometer.

Let it rest for about five minutes before slicing.

Garnish with fresh herbs.

Chicken Fillers

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Nothing is satisfying as a nice juicy filling inside any roll. You can this simple chicken filler inside a dosa, roti, tortilla, naan, bun or bread. Great when packing lunch boxes or watching a movie, while having dinner.

You Need:

  • One portion Chicken breast, cut into small pieces.
  • 200 grams of button mushrooms, chopped up.
  • One bell pepper, diced.
  • One onion, diced.
  • Couple of garlic cloves, smashed and chopped up.
  • 1 teaspoon of red chilly powder.
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar.
  • 1 tablespoon of butter.
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
  • 1 tablespoon of fresh cream.

Heat butter and oil. Saute the garlic and onion. When the raw smell is gone, add the chilly powder. When everything turns red, add the mushrooms and saute on high heat. Keep stirring and when the mushrooms are reduced to half the volume add the bell pepper. Add sugar and salt. Mix in the chicken breast. Cook on high heat and keep stirring. After the chicken is cooked add the cream. Mix in thoroughly and cook for another 2 or 3 mins. Switch off the stove and let it rest for a couple of minutes. This will allow the juices some time to get absorbed.

Lay this filler into any wrap of your choice and enjoy a yummy family meal. Bonus points if you make your kids do this work.

Macaroni : Chicken Korma Style

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A simple one pot meal that everyone will love.

You need:

  • 300 Grams of chicken. Avoid using the breast pieces.
  • 3 medium onions, thinly sliced.
  • 3 green chilies, roughly chopped.
  • 1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste.
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped up.
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder.
  • 1 teaspoon of pepper powder.
  • 1 teaspoon of coriander powder.
  • 200 ml of curd.
  • 600 ml of water.
  • 200 grams of Macaroni pasta.
  • Chopped coriander leaves.

Whisk the curd, add the water to it. Mix well till no lumps remain and keep aside.

In a pressure cooker heat about 3 tablespoons of oil. Saute the macaroni in it for about 4-5 mins. Remove the macaroni and keep them aside. While this is an optional step it gives the macaroni a lovely flavor boost and is highly recommended.

Saute the onions and green chilies. Once the onions are translucent, add the ginger garlic paste. Fry till its becoming brown but not quite brown. Add the chicken pieces and cook till they are all white on the outside. Add the turmeric, coriander power and pepper powder. Cook till the raw edge has gone.

Add the tomatoes and coriander leaves. Strain the curd water and add it. This will prevent any lumps from getting into the pan. Continue in low to medium heat. Add the macaroni after the contents in the cooker have started to get a bit of boil. The macaroni must be fully covered in the liquid. Pressure cook on high for 2 whistles.

Let the pressure subside completely before opening the cooker.

Enjoy a very delicious meal.

Chicken in Mint Sauce

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You Need:

  • Two Drumsticks and Thighs of Chicken. Dry and slightly salted.
  • Mint Puree with a bunch of mint leaves, two green chillies, garlic cloves and a little olive oil.
  • 100 ml fresh cream.
  • A tablespoon of butter.

Heat a heavy bottom pan and melt butter. Add the chicken and cook till it’s about 80% done. You will know this as the color will have fully changed and it may leak out almost clear oils.

Add the mint puree and immediately after that the cream. Mix everything. Season with salt after checking. Cook covered on the lowest heat setting for about ten minutes. Sprinkle some chilly flakes for color.

Enjoy.

Boneless Chicken Fry

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Chicken fry that melts in your mouth, a simple guide.

You Need:

  • 2 boneless chicken breasts at room temperature. Cut them all into small pieces. But have at least two pieces per batch that are almost double in size.
  • A half teaspoon of turmeric.
  • 1 tablespoon of Garlic or ginger+garlic paste. Use whatever you have at home.
  • 1 teaspoon of Paprika Powder. You can use plain red chilly powder as well. Paprika gives it a nice color and I prefer it.
  • Salt as per taste.
  • 1 tablespoon of Corn Flour.
  • Oil, you can use any oil that can tolerate high heat. Sunflower oil is quite good for this.

Combine all the ingredients in a steel container. Use a steel spoon to mix them. Do not use your fingers. Keep stirring inside the container till all the masala is on the chicken and nothing is stuck to the container. The container will look almost clean. Leave it aside for about 15-20 mins.

Heat oil. It should be hot enough that anything added to it will immediately sizzle. Add the chicken pieces one by one. They should not be stacked on top of each other. Don’t forget to add the two extra large pieces. Cook on medium heat. When you start feeling that the chicken is cooked, using your steel spatula, slice one of the larger pieces. Inspect if its cooked. There should be no pink in the middle. Its recommended you do this test around the 4 minute mark. Depending on its state, you may want to slice the second large piece after 2-3 mins. When the large pieces are cooked thru, waste no time in getting all the pieces out. You can see one of those sliced pieces in the picture.

Let it cool for a min or two before you give the plate to your family and forget about it.

Chicken with Carrots and Scallion

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This is yet another cooking hack for tender chicken breasts.

You Need:

  • Chicken breast: Marinated in olive oil, garlic paste, pepper and salt.
  • Carrots : Sliced into rings.
  • Scallion or Spring Onions : Chopped really small.

Take a large and heavy pan. Get it hot. Like really hot but not smoking hot. Keep the breast, smooth side down. It will sizzle away and start cooking. The color will slowly start changing. Now the pan has a lot of empty space. All that heat needs something else the pan will go bad. Spread out the carrot rings. They will protect the pan. Don’t add all the carrot rings. Just what you need to protect the pan.

When the color the chicken breast has changed by more than 80%, flip it over. Now we did not pound the chicken breast into an even shape. So under the thinner side, simply slide in a carrot ring or two.

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The chicken is cooked when its juices are clear or the internal temperature crosses 70C. Remove the chicken and let it rest.

Add the chopped scallions and the remaining carrots. Mix well and cook on high heat till its done. Season with pepper if you like it a little spicy.

Enjoy a very juicy and healthy meal.

Note : You can replace the carrots with beets and the scallion with any greens of your choice.

Steamed Chicken, Broccoli with Strawberries

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Super healthy way to start your Monday.

You Need:

  • One chicken breast. Soak it in salted water for about 30 minutes.
  • Broccoli Florets. Soak them in salted water for at least 20 mins. This will help get rid of debris and worms.
  • Cut Strawberries.
  • Pepper Powder.
  • Some toasted nuts and seeds.

I used my pressure cooker for steaming the broccoli and chicken. Its a normal 5 Liter cooker. First I kept a small steel plate up side down. This gave a little extra height. On top of this placed a steel colander. The water must NOT touch the colander. This is very important. Remove the weight and the rubber gasket from the pressure cooker’s lid.

Get the water to a full boil. Reduce the heat. Carefully place the broccoli florets in it. Use a pair of tongs to do this safely. Close the lid. Get the heat to high. Give it a few seconds for the steam to start appearing in the cooker’s opening. Reduce the heat and give it approximately 3 mins. Remove the florets and keep aside.

Now place the chicken breast in the colander. Sprinkle pepper powder. Close the lid and increase the heat to full. When the steam starts appearing in the opening, start a timer and reduce the heat. 12 mins later, remove the chicken. Be careful. Hot steam is dangerous. Use a digital thermometer to be sure that the chicken is safe to eat. It must be over 70C in the thickest part. The temperature will continue to rise even after you remove it from the steam. My chicken breast reached a maximum of 79.9C.

Slice the chicken, combine it with the steamed broccoli and strawberries. There is no need of any dressing. Sprinkle some toasted nuts. They look good and they are very nutritious.